Cubans In Chicago Eager To See Island Change

By Yolanda Perdomo
Magdalena Rodriguez (left) and her daughter Isis wait for sandwiches at Marianao’s Cuban sandwich shop. Magdalena left Cuba as a child and is skeptical changes are coming.
Magdalena Rodriguez (left) and her daughter Isis wait for sandwiches at Marianao’s Cuban sandwich shop. Magdalena left Cuba as a child and is skeptical changes are coming. Yolanda Perdomo / WBEZ
Magdalena Rodriguez (left) and her daughter Isis wait for sandwiches at Marianao’s Cuban sandwich shop. Magdalena left Cuba as a child and is skeptical changes are coming.
Magdalena Rodriguez (left) and her daughter Isis wait for sandwiches at Marianao’s Cuban sandwich shop. Magdalena left Cuba as a child and is skeptical changes are coming. Yolanda Perdomo / WBEZ

Cubans In Chicago Eager To See Island Change

By Yolanda Perdomo
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Standing under a framed map of Cuba and pictures of Old Havana at the Cafeteria Marianao sandwich shop on the city’s Northwest side, Magdalena Rodriguez dismissed the idea that President Barack Obama’s visit would impact the country she left behind as a child.

“Cuba was beautiful. Now? They painted it because the president went there,” said Rodriguez. “It’s not going to be no changes for the pueblo [the people]. There’s not going to be no changes for them.”

Her daughter Isis has been to Cuba three times, and she’s urging her mom to go with her again. Isis saw the family home, and the school where Magdalena studied. But when she brings it up to her mother, Rodriguez shrugs her shoulders — she doesn’t really see the point.  

“That’s where I was born and all that, but it’s not enjoyable,” Rodriguez explained.

But after looking at the map together and finding her hometown, with a half smile, Rodriguez says she may reconsider and go back to Cuba later this year.

Yolanda Perdomo is a reporter at WBEZ. Follower her at @yolandanews.